On September 5th, 6th, and 7th, NNHS Theatre Club once again partook in the annual tradition that is the Fresh Soph show. This year, the play was “The Iliad, The Odyssey, and all of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or less”.
Creating a performance as effortless and airtight as the Fresh/Soph show was not easy, and it required painstaking preparation in order to truly honor one the most ambitious shows of the year. When asked about their tech week rehearsal process, sophomore actress Haylie Struyf mentioned the pressure that occurs the closer opening night gets.
“I feel like the process started off very rocky, with the freshman getting accustomed to the new way of tech week, and the rest of the cast realizing it’s time to be prepared for everything,” Struyf states.
The name of the show even demonstrates how complicated and mentally taxing the show is for the actors. The show only has an hour and 40 minutes to adapt thousands of pages and years of mythological history into an entertaining story to be easily consumed by the audience. In order to do this, the 20 actors in the cast are forced to play an average of 5-6 characters each, with one actress even playing 13. Not to mention, many of the returning actors have very little experience acting at North. Therefore, the cast as a whole has had to deal with a difficult transition with not only doing the show but also having to embrace everything that is North Theater. However, every single hard-working actor was someone who put in a grueling effort to make sure that the scene was correct for them to be their best.
Along with the cast, we cannot forget everyone that worked hard behind the scenes. Take NNHS Costumes who had to create a costume for every individual character in this show—that’s 100+ costumes that they put together in the span of about a month. NNHS Tech Crew who worked since late July to build and paint their towering set and a variety of practical effects. Not to mention, they gathered many of their props and created lighting and sound effects as of this week. Surprisingly enough, despite all of these factors, the cast AND crew have found this transition into this novel environment easier than anticipated. Whether that’s a testament to outstanding direction, the work put in by those under that direction, or both, it meant great things for everybody involved in the production.
Senior Bianca Esposito, who is a Co-Director of the Frosh Soph show, commented on the commitment and teamwork that occurred behind the scenes to make this production happen.
“So much hard work has gone into this production, and you can tell. The set is beautiful and greatly detailed. The costumes have so much thought behind them. The actors are so committed to their roles and to making it happen within the time limit,” Esposito said.
Regardless of the adversity this production has had to overcome “The Iliad, The Odyssey, and all of Greek Mythology in 99 minutes or less” looked to be an incredibly memorable and hilarious experience for anyone who went to see it and anyone who worked on it throughout this trying process. In case you missed it, make sure to look out for future North shows that might feature these rising stars, such as Trap, on October 31st, November 1st, and 2nd, a Wicked Christmas Carol in December, and more!
Ultimately, besides the struggle involved, everyone had a great time making this show. When asked what made this show seeing, sophomore Charlie Vallo had a different angle regarding the question.
“The directors August and Bianca have done a great job helping and directing all of us. Overall, it is a fun show, and we had a lot of fun making it!” Vallo remarked.
